UH astronomer discusses future of human survival beyond Earth

University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy astronomer Roberto Mendez will be presenting Beyond Earth: Strategies for Long-Term Human Survival. The Frontiers of Astronomy community event public lecture will take place on Thursday, March 6, 7:30 p.m. at the UH Mānoa Art Building Auditorium, room 132.

According to Mendez, Earth is not a safe place. Geological and paleontological evidence indicates that life on Earth has been punctuated by several mass extinctions caused by hazards both local (ice ages, volcanoes) and external (comet or asteroid hits). To optimize our chances of long-term survival (millions of years), we must colonize the solar system and then spread across the galaxy. This talk will describe a plausible strategy for future human survival that does not depend on finding Earth-like planets around other stars.